Would you like a Brit Gen Chat Room?

[Sue Mackay]

Would you like a Brit Gen Chat Room?

[Sue Mackay]

Bo Peep. Hope this works! Have set it up to close in 7 days.

[Genseeker]

There is one already here... yes??
http://www.british-genealogy.com/chat.html

[Neil Wilson]

There is one already here... yes??
http://www.british-genealogy.com/chat.html
This is a free prototype test, so if there is enough votes, I expect Bo will provide us with one without the adverts. Don't know way, but that puts me off them.

[BeeE586]

There is one already here... yes??
http://www.british-genealogy.com/chat.html

I tried this - my computer 'froze' and it took all of ten minutes of switching off, disc checking and getting back online. Just a warning !

Not sure about a Chatroom. The DBY room that Brett Payne organized folded through lack of interest; the other problem is, if too many are 'talking' at the same time you lose track of who asked which question and who is answering what (if that makes sense). I'll sit on the fence and see what happens.

Eileen

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k96/Bennie-AlVlen/DontSitOnTheFence.jpg

[Mutley]

Oh! I got real frit then.

How did my mate the pussy cat get onto the forum without me?
She looks just like my Purdy, who is normally tucked up in our bed by now not sitting on the garden fence:D:D grrrh!!

[BeeE586]

I searched on a Photobucket site for 'Sitting on the Fence' and found this dear creature exactly like a cat I once had called Bella - short for Bellissima as she was so beautiful.

It seemed appropriate !

Eileen

[Neil Wilson]

Not sure about a Chatroom. The DBY room that Brett Payne organized folded through lack of interest; I remember those Thursday evenings chatting with Brett and the crowd, trying to second guess who was who. Like Eileen said, folded though lack of interest. Shame, but then, I found Brit-Gen |wave|

[busyglen]

I'm not too sure either. In theory I liked the idea being able to chat one-to-one or others popping in as well, but having tried a few in the past, I must admit, I found it difficult to have a conversation when too many people came in at once.

If you spot someone, you can chat with them, but you have to pick out their conversation in amongst everyone elses.

I suppose it's always worth a trial run, and as there are a lot more people now, it might get off the ground. The only problem is the time factor! Sometime people can pop in during the day, others only late at night, although that could be a plus as not everyone would want to chat at once.......would this eliminate the chatter page here?

Glenys

[Geoffers]

I think these forums adequately perform as 'chat rooms', with it easier to follow the individual threads of correspondence.

If you want to meet specific people here at specific times, you could always advertise that on the general chatter forum.

Geoffers

[Mike_E]

Hi Glenys,

I believe (not completely certain) that to get a decent Chat Room without irritating pop ups and advertisements, etc., I would need to buy the software, arrange for additional web space and get Toby and the team to sort it out. This would not be cheap.

I do not want to appear like Scrooge here, but I would need to be totally convinced that a Chat Room is essential before spending the cash.

The BMW forum I'm a member of (biking interests) put a chat room on line, it was popular for a while and then died a death. I'm in Favour of there being one, but don't know how much I would use it myself. I only used the BMW one a couple of times, and found it better using a one to one forum, or using the PM facility. Just my 2 cents worth.

[Pam Downes]

I'm not voting in the poll because the question I would answer isn't an option. :)
To the question 'Would you use a chat room?' the answer is no. I'm a slow typist at the best of times, and find it almost impossible to watch 'Strictly come dancing' and post comments in that forum at the same time - and that's when the comments consist of one sentence! :D So I would certainly never keep up in a chat room.
Pam

[Copper]

I am a member of another forum (health related) and the chat room died a death there. You could choose a colour for your conversation so it made things a little easier. The problem with that chat room was it was dominated by a few people who had such personal conversations that you felt like an intruder. From comments in that forum one person managed to lower the tone |blush| so that has put me off chat rooms.

I probably would not use a chat room here.

[AnnB]

I think the forum is just right as it is. If someone posts a reply and the person who set up the thread is on-line at the time, it's surprising how much of a conversation you can have, without resorting to a chat room ;)
Like Pam, I would never be able to keep up........ :o

Best wishes
Ann

[Patrisia]

Eileen has said it for me -

"Not sure about a Chatroom. The DBY room that Brett Payne organized folded through lack of interest; the other problem is, if too many are 'talking' at the same time you lose track of who asked which question and who is answering what (if that makes sense). I'll sit on the fence and see what happens."

I really enjoyed Brett's DBY chat room for a while but set times are were not always possible; I don't think it was a lack of interest that made it fold, just that we are all busy people, with even a life outside FH research!

Added to which, slow two-finger typing and limelight-hogging chatters, can add to chat rooms not always being a good experience.

Geoffers put it so well, and there are always PMs if need be.

So, on balance, no thanks ;)

[Scottie]

For some reason cannot vote on the poll so I will record my No here. I find the forum is much better than a chat room myself.

[arthurk]

I've only tried a chat room once, and I didn't like it. Not knowing the procedure, I hoped to slip in anonymously and lurk a while to see what was going on, but I was spotted and someone said something to me, so not wanting to appear rude, I had to concoct a quick reply (while trying to ignore everything else that was going on there). Since I like to take my time over what I write, I made my excuses and left as soon as I could, and haven't visited a chat room since.

It wasn't long after that that I discovered these forums, and I find that they operate at a much better speed for me. Occasionally there's a fast-moving thread, but on the whole things happen at a civilised pace, so if I only check in once a day, I don't feel I've been missing out. And when people have time to think about what they're writing, there's always the chance that they'll say something a bit more intelligent ;)

If others want a chat room I wouldn't stand in their way, though a part of me would feel a bit disappointed if what we have now, including all the banter, were to be diminished.

Arthur

[Sunpat]

I agree with Geoffers "I think these forums adequately perform as 'chat rooms', with it easier to follow the individual threads of correspondence."
Personally, I'm a 'hunt and peck' typist, with arthritis, and would be very unlikely to use a chat room.
Sunpat

[v.wells]

Unfortunately, I voted on having a chatroom open at all times and I want to Recant My Vote. I agree with Sunpat and Geoffers and everyone else. The general discussion forum is more than adequate. I am a dolt for voting sorry!

Vanessa

[Jon Whiting]

I agree with Geoffers "I think these forums adequately perform as 'chat rooms', with it easier to follow the individual threads of correspondence."
Personally, I'm a 'hunt and peck' typist, with arthritis, and would be very unlikely to use a chat room.
Sunpat

I find chat rooms are not very useful for our type of research since the chances of someone who can answer a query being on line at a specific time when someone else asks a question is rather remote. Chat rooms are useful for general discussions (as were Brett's Thursday chats), but the forums are much more useful.

However, often certain messages are posted that are useful for a limited time, or to ask a question that may not be generally useful to all listers. One or two forums have a facility to automatically delete a temporary thread after a fixed time so the searches do not become overloaded with useless hits. I'm not sure whether our forum software can handle this or not.

Jon

[busyglen]

Although I said I wasn't sure, upon reflection.....I too like the `banter' that we can have here on a thread that can be shared with everyone, without any pressure. And....it doesn't matter if you take 1 minute or 10 minutes to reply! ;)

Glenys

[Sue Mackay]

I do not want to appear like Scrooge here, but I would need to be totally convinced that a Chat Room is essential before spending the cash.

I set up the vote because it seemed like an easier way to monitor a thread that was started the other day and posed the question. I only used the old chat room myself once, and I must say I also prefer banter on the General Chatter forum and the occasional one-liner that amuses during other threads. I certainly wouldn't want BoPeep to go to any expense for something that might not be much used. I think the telling statistic is that as I write this there have been 324 views (out of 12,000 members) but only 28 have actually voted. I think even if you got a Yes majority it would need to be a much higher percentage of the membership before it became worth spending money.

[Davran]

I dithered about voting on the poll because I have never visited a chat room and am not sure that I would use one on BG either. I have used the message forum on GenesReunited, but found it a bit pressurised when people were expecting you to stay on line in case they wanted to query what you were asking and got a bit stroppy if you had gone off to do something else.

Then I found BG forums and have been very happy here :). No-one expects an instant reply and you can join in whenever you like without any time constraints. Altogether more relaxed. So, on balance I think I probably wouldn't use a chat room.

[tony vines]

What's a chat room?

[Neil Wilson]

OK, yes I have used them, but like others have said, all chattering on, different threads, all scrolling past your eyes and slow typing makes forums/ mailing lists the medium for me. Also there is a spell checker on here, you don't get that with a chat room. (Yes I know about Google spell checker but that wasn't around in the past).
Good idea, but it is not for me.
P.S. Hi to all those from Brett's old chat room from the Silver Fox :)

[Nicos]

One evening a week sounds good ...I know they go down well on other sites.

Maybe we can help that poor chap on Smilies actually bite the wall( or it is a stick of rock ???) rather than head butt it?????( must hurt...poor chap!!!):D

And what about the guy who can't find his pencil on the floor???|biggrin|

[Wirral]

I've voted against a chat room because:

I can never remember when they are open.
I like to take time to read what is written, rather than speaking "off-the cuff". (When I do that it is always a mistake!)
It is too much like a mobile phone. I think I have gone into "rant mode", but why do people think they have to be talking all the time? Don't they know that silence is golden? - to be continued on "Pet hates"!
I'm not a fast typist.
The forum works fine as it is. Now that the server & repeating bug problems have been sorted by BoPeep, you can have a conversation in virtually "real time". (Or is that a contradiction in terms?)

[Pam Downes]

Why not just have a chat room 'thread'? (Sorry, I never know whether to say, forum, sub-forum or what, so I thought thread would make it clearer as I mean just one on-going section.) That would be open all the time and I could post a message now which says 'Blooming rain. It's chucking it down on the one day I want to go into town,' and it wouldn't matter if no-one replied for a couple of hours (or even days :eek: ). They would adjust their reply to how much later they responded.
Or you could still say the main hours for chat would be between say 7 and 9pm UK time (remembering about GMT and BST!)
Pam

[Pam Downes]

Now, that would be another non-genealogy thread, wouldn't it?
Um, yes, but if you stuck it right of the bottom of the forum nobody would notice it. :D
Though I've just realised that anyone using the 'new posts' would get a whole raft of 'chat room' posts, unless you could turn that thread off from the rest of the system.
(Techie dimbo goes back to her corner. :) )
Pam

[busyglen]

Why worry girls.....at least you are thinking!:D

Glenys

[Wirral]

This techie dimbo will join you in the corner!Can you shove up a bit? It's getting rather crowded in here!:D

[Ladkyis]

'scuse me but I was taught

If it ain't broke don't fix it

When Bo peep took over we had the repeating bug repeating and the enthusiasm was waning. Now we have a lively, growing community that is working better than ever so let's leave the chat room off shall we. The JGSGB has a chat room on its forum and no-one ever goes there - at least no-one ever went there when I used to be a regular attender to the forum. I used to pop in every day but there were so seldom any new messages I forgot to go.
If at somepoint in the future there is a big demand for a chat room then we can let Bo peep think again but at the moment, well, I have a leaking radiator and a sodden carpet that is claiming my attention

[BeeE586]

It would seem to me that since so few people have even bothered to vote there is not a lot of interest in a Chat Room.

I am with Ladkyis - if it aint broke, don't fix it, and sure as H*** it aint broke but doing very nicely thank you !!!

Eileen

[Sue Mackay]

I have a leaking radiator and a sodden carpet that is claiming my attention

Oh I do sympathise. Been there! Here is a resorative |hug|

See? We can have the odd bit of chat on here without disrupting things unduly.

[Sue Mackay]

Here is a resorative |hug|


Or even a restorative |hug|. The Edit button seems to disappear once you have gone away and come back.

[Sue Mackay]

With fewer than 50 votes in total and 60% of those against, I am sure Bo Peep will be delighted to know she need to nothing at all :D